Rumble...
Cultivators at the mountain's summit fought to the death, turning mountains and seas into a furnace and a boiling cauldron, treating the common people as swimming fish and crawling insects!
Under the onslaught of Blazing Sword Qi, the lake for dozens of miles around had turned to boiling water, churning with bubbles and mist.
Many of the fish, shrimp, turtles, and crabs that had lived in the lake were caught in the crossfire, floating belly-up on the surface.
Empress Dowager Guo held her sword, Nihility, her red hair streaming in the wind and rain. Though her presence remained as keen as a naked blade, the crimson radiance around her had visibly dimmed, and even her flame-like hair had returned to its usual wine red. Clearly, she had expended a great deal of strength.
A thousand feet ahead, Daoist Kongkong hovered over the lake with a three-foot sword in hand. Crimson blood rolled down its edge, and a little more weariness had entered his dim, aged eyes:
"The ancients said, 'My fate rests with me, not Heaven,' but they also said, 'To gain it is my good fortune; to lose it is my fate'... Fellow Daoist Guo, do you think we cultivators should accept our fate or refuse it?"
During their exchange just now, Empress Dowager Guo had already seen that Daoist Kongkong's Dao Heart was unstable, his sword lacking drive.
For a cultivator at the mountain's summit, an unimpeded Dao Heart mattered more than a sound body.
After all, only with a Dao Heart like iron and an unwavering goal could one draw out human perseverance and potential, crossing chasm after chasm that ordinary people could never cross. This held true for the Righteous Path and the unorthodox Dao, and even for Shang Lianbi, who was neither righteous nor